WILMINGTION, N.C. — The sun is finally poking out of the clouds in Wilmington, North Carolina, but the problems causing by Hurricane Florence are only just beginning.
Indiana’s Task Force 1 has been working round-the-clock since the storm made landfall this past Friday. Spokesman Mike Pruitt said flash flooding is the biggest problem in their search and rescue efforts for people who are stranded.
“Emergency crews can’t access them so we are sending boat crews in to get the individual and bring them out,” Pruitt said. “The water was about six inches deep and basically running like a river. By the time we got 30 people out of this particular neighborhood I’m thinking of, the water was over out knees.”
Pruitt said the night after Florence made landfall they ran operations from 10:00 at night until 7:00 in the morning. One of the emergencies they responded to was for a tree that had crushed the house of a family of three. A mother and bay were killed but Task Force 1 rescuers were able to save the father.
Pruitt said that was not the way they wanted to start their campaign, but he adds they don’t have much time to dwell on it.
Typically, we are so busy,” Pruitt said. “There is a lot of busy work in those moments in between when we get called out and when we are here at the base of operations. When he get down time, it’s sleep time. We get about four-to-five hours of sleep a night if they are lucky.”
As for when you can expect the contingent of Hoosiers to return home, Pruitt said that is still unclear since there is still a lot of work to do.
(PHOTO: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
